This summer has been a painful one for Arsenal fans. As we faltered in the latter stages of last season, achieving 17th place in the Premier League form table for the final 6 games, Gooners were excited for a summer of change.
Undoubtedly, much has changed over the summer. However, a lot of the change has been negative, or at the very least it is shown with a negative slant by the media. Apparently two of our best players want out, a couple of youngsters and fringe players are leaving without replacement and our notoriously weak defence has only been bolstered with a player from League one. Add to that the fact that the fans booed the team in the Emirates Cup, Squillaci has managed to get even worse and Nicklas Bendtner may never play for Arsenal again. Then we take a look at our pre-season friendlies: P6 W2 D3 L1 - hardly impressive, but it is true that such matches are meaningless.
Waking up this morning, I should have expected some anti-Arsenal media stories. Naively, I hoped that the media would forget to mention that we lost, and forget about our transfer problems this summer. How silly of me.
The three Arsenal stories that are circling most media sites and newspapers are in the title: Arsenal lose, Nasri argues with boss, Fabregas to pay to leave.
Of course the media is correct in saying that losing last night was poor preparation for our assault on the Premier League title. But most newspapers are failing to include the positives of last night’s first half performance, which was promising. Add to that the fact that our second half team was full of fringe players, and you can understand how we narrowly lost to a Benfica side with some tricky players.
But there were other negatives from our match in Portugal. Robin van Persie, Vermaelen and Gibbs all have knocks. Wenger said:
“It is an ankle problem [for van Persie], I don’t know how bad it is. Gibbs has a muscular [thigh] problem and Vermaelen has a slight back problem.”
Samir Nasri could be set to leave for Manchester City after an argument with Wenger. Supposedly, Wenger is now considering selling Nasri due to this argument and Samir’s poor performances in the Emirates Cup, although our manager has rubbished the second reason.
Letting him leave for a fee in the region of £25 million makes sense – we would also save around £5 million in wages, which combines to £30 million. Suddenly, a deal for Mata and a centre back seems all the more likely, and we have got rid of a player who doesn’t seem to want to play for the club.
Of the lack of recent transfer activity, Wenger has said:
“We work very hard, we are non-stop working throughout the summer. I am positive because we have good quality and a style of play that is known by the players.
“Ideally I would have finished all [our transfer dealings by now] but it doesn’t work like that.”
He also implied that something might happen next week, but don’t put your money on it. Further to that, making a signing only days before our match at Newcastle means that the new Gunner won’t have time to settle in, so he probably wouldn’t get a game for a while.
The other piece of bad news concerns Cesc Fabregas. The Daily Mail is reporting that Cesc is prepared to give up £4 million in bonuses to force through the deal to Barcelona. Barca’s latest transfer offer is rumoured to be around £32 million, with £5 million in add-ons. Fabregas has not featured in any of our pre-season matches, and Wenger has said:
“He’s not injured. He’s training normally but hasn’t played since Bolton, which is two and a half months. The situation with Cesc is not sorted out but I don’t want to talk about it any more.”
Our manager seems very frustrated with the situation, like most Arsenal fans. If Cesc really does want to pay in order to leave, that will represent a massive issue of loyalty for Arsenal. Our own captain is forcing through a deal to leave – how embarrassing is that?
However, there are no quotes indicating that this story is true. Hopefully it is just media speculation, after all it did come from the Daily Mail.
Let’s hope next week gives us something to smile about.
i think mr wanger is traing to kill all the socaity around arsenal and dont forgat that he is an econmices
Sell Fabregas and Nasri and get 60 million. I dont care what other managers and chairmen say buy Mata Hazard and De Rossi. Then sign Cahill and Samba or Dann. Let the striker situation and left back go until January. The team we should start with is..
Szczensy
Sagna Cahill Vermaelen Gibbs
Hazard De Rossi Wilshere Mata
V.Persie Gervinho
Thats a fantastic team and we would have a get bench as well!!!
With the inflated prices samba and cahill alone would cost 50 mil, leaving 10 mil to buy diddly squat. And thats if barca cough up the 40mil we want for cesc
Can one take wenger’s word serious any more, they think they can dribble the fans, first it was signing all players before pre – season then next week, next week and the fans keep waiting for next week that never be, what are we keeping Nasri for sure we would not get anything from him this season the best option is to sell him and buy players that are ready to die for the club, it because we do not buy players that is why a Nasri can hold us to ransome.
was so glad we lost ystrdy n dat really exposed so many facts;frm defensv lapses;no fightin spirit amongst odas,hence, d only feat we can only achieve under ds fool is maintaining our top4 position n probably defending d emirates cup hence4th..don’t know why dis fool(wenger) is stil draggin his foot on CF4 transfer issue..let d boy go..cs he’s a catalyst2our transfer plans!(he doesn’t love u! Get dt in2 ur thick parsimonous skull n spend dis cash cos it ain’t your f **kin money! **yelling**..hopefully Nasri will roll ds wk cos he wud never allow im go4free!..season starts nxt wk..maybe if we lose our 1st game again,ds old fool we understand d language of d fans and d concerned ones..cos it looks as if we have been speakin Swahilli all dis while..
why dont you go tell barca to pay up the right price for CF4 and see if wenger wont let him go!!!!!!!!! YOU FOOL!
Am in doubt about Cecs speculation. It seem to be rumour.
Csec and nasri r a minus 2 us. Wenger should do something. Our bp is rising again
With regard to Cesc, as long as we get the club’s asking price, I dont see what the problem is. If he is determined to leave, and he is, and his only suitor [A situation engendered by the player himself] would not pay the asking price, what in the world are we supposed o do? Let him pay the difference and perhaps we can start rebuilding with players who want to be here.
The only regret is that he should have stopped being our captain a long time ago. I hope the manager will never make the same mistake of using the arm band as a bribe again.
Pls don’t let us put nasri on sale bcuz we still need him but u see Fabregas we must sell him to barca on a good price bcuz he his no more useful at all in Arsenal. Do you ppl still need him or not.
i think fans in london…are the ones that still make the situation worsen.i know somebody will ask me why?…coz if they fail to watch all arsenal preseason matches,i know both stingy arsene wenger and greedy board members will do something about this situation……fans in london and all over the world let us stop watching arsenal matches,i know by doing this…they will find solution to our problem…coz i dont see any sign of seriousness in them at all…….they are just deceiving us and let’s stop deceiving ourselves….
Problem is, why would those players come to arsenal?
Firstly, a host of them have already stated they are not going to come to us – but look at their options
Do they go to our rivals who will spend on their squad to get the best players, win trophies and pay better wages
Or do they come to us and get less money, play in a weakened squad of youngsters where the best players are trying to force a move away and have less of a chance of winning titles.
Be reasonable, the de rossis and hazards, and co of this world could go to more attractive clubs then arsenal and whats more we will not pay the 20+ million their clubs would want
Those sort of signings are long gone for us and we have to deal with it
Wenger is becoming d problem of arsenal n i think dat dis’ll lead 2his sack at d end of dis season.Dnt he(wenger)c d hand writing on d wal, dat game is no longer 4 d boys but matured minds.we arsenal fans need change.
Wenger shd go. Where is arsenal pride of london.
Wenger is a liar
AW shud realize dat the days of signing player 4 peanut are far far gone, he shud try and talk to the board and himself that in other to achieve the unachiavable for the past six years the club nds to spend in the transfer mkt. I wuld lk to know if AFC has now become feeder team for Man. City?
AW and the board shud realize that FAB spirit is no longer at AFC neither does he wish to play for the club again. AW shud pls sell FAB to Barca for a reasonable amount with a player e.g. Thiago b4 his valuation drops.
i was watching MANU and i got to say they were looking serious dangerous…. I think wenger u need to wide ur eyes brow b4 close window and make those sign as sson as possible otherwise another season another disapointed.
The clock is ticking. The PL is starting next week…. We all are aware that there wouldn’t be enough time for anyone to integrate in the squad in such a short period; nevertheless, it is time to get rid of the unloyals and unfaithfuls… Nasri and Fabregas are a shame on Arsenal and they do not deserve and merit to wear this shirt again…..
HAD REALLY ENOUGH OF THE BARCA AND HAMSTRING SAGA….
Kick them out AND WITH APPROXIMATELY 55 MILLION POUNDS GET:
1. CAHILL AND SAMBA= 26 MILLIONS
2. MATA FOR 20
3. SPEND 10 MORE MILLIONS ON THE REMAINING 9 AND GET HAZARD AS HIS COMBINATION W GERVINHO WAS PHENOMENAL AT LILLE
buy 2 centre back n goalkeeper if u wan,t to title challenge… don,t waste the time aw…
Wenger is not our problem but the board who only care about their pocket and not we fans
The board not wenga to blame perfect! Who apoints/elect this pocket oriented board? Fab and Nasiri are the only advocats to cause achange & expose thagery in arsn board.lets spare this innocent boys.
I started belived with wenger before, but yestaday night its the day that i realised that, wenger want to distroy arsenal team at all, because he is always acting like a stick in the field if not why not he is always want arsenal to loose, my under stand is that, wenger he is just want to distroy the team and go, for the reason that, there are some players which are not deserved to be in even arsenal second team, and he refuse to sell them out of the team, and he always traying to put them in our game and they always giving a problem to the team. now the team is still no plan, no focuse, and no hope for trophys, why the big names shall not showing their interest to leave, arsenal trophyless is not the players problem its wenger problem and the team will remain trophyless untill arsen wenger die or leave the arsenal.
am sorry my people, this season gonna be the worst ever for fans and players.I think is too late to tackle the situation.
nice article..bt it is flawed by the fact that u seem to accept everything wenger says hook line and sinker.wenger said this summer would be busy…its 3 weeks till the end of the transfer window..still nothing. Let me just reveal a reality to u,arsenal and wenger will never pay huge sums for a player,or pay more than they feel a player is worth(point 1).secondly,from this point onwards players prices will go up because clubs r unwilling to sell key players cos of the limited time to find a replacement,so they will only do so at a higher price..so a deal like adebayor leavin mancity on deadline day is very possible(he is surplus to requirments)…signin mata on deadline day would be impossible(remember when wenger tried to sign alonso)..so time is running out fast for wenger…with each day that passes transfers will get more and more difficult and expensive..i hope wenger does something this week,but i’m not holding my breath and i seriously will not be surprised if our summer spending is over.
Wenger, sign Arda Turan or Mario gotze
I hav realised that Wenger has a plan 2 bring down AFC. I cant believe he is so naive 2 have learnt that he needs 2 buy. He should b sacked!
Problem is that arsenal are either skint or the board like to line there pockets, to me its obvious thats why there haven`t been more signings. They need to sell cesc to fund other transfers, mata wanted to come and valencia agreed to sell, the only thing that stopped it was that arsenal didn`t transfer the money. The only thing that is gonna change is our ability to compete. Wengers hands have been tied ever since dein left
Do not know what is the big deal keeping Nasri and fabregas they are not loyal to the club it is unheard of to see a captain crying to leave and even ready to pay to facilitate his transfer wonders shall never end.Sell Nasri and fabregas outright and lets use the cash in getting new players time is running out i thought by now we should be ready with our new players with the season starting next week.There are good players wanting to play for big clubs like ours so let any rebel player go but with the right cash we need period.
Hey fans ditch this fuckin club. This club trains and sells. We wont buy come rain or sunshine even if wenger loses 10 successive games.
leave wenger alone let him rule his word [emirate] the way he wants. afterall, our management are not complaining. which indicates that they are enjoying his reign at emirate.
wen wil wenger play his cards right pple?
let fabregas leave; he’s at arsenal physically but in his heart he’s at barca. hope nasri stays and more signings made esp mata
Sign valuable players mr. Wenger
Wenger is our problem let him and apply new coach i think that will a different